Justin Quiet works for EcoSolutions, a Vermont-based company battling blue-green algae blooms.

“We want to try and make a substantial impact in cleaning up the water,” Quiet said. "I grew up on my grandparents' sailboat out in Malletts Bay, and to see the Lake deteriorate in quality is really kind of sad."

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The city of Burlington is trying a new pilot project using EcoSolution's environmentally-safe filters to fight the potentially dangerous plants in lake Champlain.

But how did the water get this way?

“Due to run off from properties, run-off from farms, run-off from waste-water treatment plants, you have an excess of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus in the water,” Quiet said. “And so what we do is we set up these discs that recover the phosphorus."

Eric Howe of the Lake Champlain Basin Program said there was no magic fix to beat the blooms, but that this phosphorus recovery technology could help.

“If it works, here in Burlington Bay, it could have an impact on beach closures at north beach for example,” Howe said.

Quiet says there are over 100 of these porous ceramic tiles, called PRRS, that were put in the water in August.

They're floating near North Beach and the boathouse wetland.

The ones in the water by north beach will stay in through September, or after the first blue-green algae bloom happens.

Funding for the pilot comes from main street project services, and while any future projects depends on how these discs do, Quiet said he's hopeful.

“It’s really nice to give back and to help,” Quiet said. “That's really what we want to do."